Raising Hell
by Jm the Ink
Summary: Just another night in Gotham. Batman is thrown into trouble and must use all of his physical and mental skills to get out of it.
1. Prologue

Prologue

It was musty. The stench of old newspapers engulfed Batman. He was in an old cellar searching for any clues of the whereabouts of Temple Fugate, the Clock King. Fugate was always a slippery one, managing to barely escape at the last moment. As Batman shuffled through a stack of the local Gotham Gazette, a loud shriek pierced through the silence. He rushed outside and saw a woman trapped within a ring of fire. He quickly covered his face and jumped in. Batman grabbed onto her waist and sheathed her with his cape. As he went for his grappling hook, he felt his strength fade and his vision blur. As he stumbled and fell to one knee, Batman turned to look at the woman. The last thing he saw was the mysterious woman's unnatural yellow eyes.

Batman awoke with a sharp breath, gasping for air. Immediately he began to gauge his physical and mental status. With full range of motor functions, the only noteworthy malady affecting him was a pounding headache. Batman checked his cowl, the anti-personnel security measure was not triggered. He looked around but did not recognize the room he was in. There was, however, a noticeable stink of cigarette smoke in the air.

"No restraints, no sign of tampering with my cowl, and the more obvious fact that I'm not dead," Batman thought. He then murmured, "coupled with the smell of cigarettes-"

A voice came forth from the shadows and cut him off, "Yeah mate, it's me."

Batman knew that voice and the accent that came with it. He looked towards the silhouette stepping out into the light. And with what seemed to be a hint of disdain, he uttered, "Constantine."


	2. Prologue Con't

Prologue Con't.

"So Batman, let me ask you something. You have all this body armor all the way up to your neck, hell maybe even your mask is bulletproof. Did you forget about that gaping hole where your mouth and chin are?" said Constantine as he lit a cigarette, "Or are you just hoping these criminals have the accuracy of an extra in Rambo?"

Batman remained silent.

"Alright alright, let's skip the pleasantries and get right to it then, yes?" Constantine took a long drag and continued on. "I was chasing down a soldier demon, a real nasty bugger. The damn thing left a trail of death in what ever city it graced with its presence; which made it a bit easier to track."

"Get to the point Constantine."

"There's an arc to this kind of process Batman. You're really killing the story here. But the long and short of it is: you have a demon inside of you." Constantine stretched out and checked his watch, "Welp, I could stand a bite. Bacon and eggs?"

"Please," Batman said whilst cracking his knuckles, "Elaborate."

"You're sending me mixed signals here! Look, there was a soldier demon inside that woman you tried to save. I had finally cornered it into a demon's trap when you heroically, albeit rashly, swept in to save the damn damsel in distress." sighed Constantine, "You know, maybe next time you should pause to ask yourself how a woman ended up in a circle of fire before you jump in."

"Demon." Batman yelled, clearly getting fed up with Constantine's antics, "Now!"

"Well we've all battled with our inner demons haven't we?" Constantine said as he flicked the cigarette butt, "Except yours is a bit more hellish now. After you lost consciousness, the demon tried to escape by killing the pretty little host. I suppressed the demon but it still needed a host. You were right there so I kind of had to bind it to you."

"Exorcise it."

"Yeah... The thing about that, mate, I tried. But don't worry so much! The binding spell I put on it was a strong one. Just consider it a helpless prisoner inside your meat bag!" Constantine paused a moment, "That came out wrong. What I meant to say is it is rendered pretty much powerless inside your – wait, hold on. I need to find a way to say this while avoiding a double entendre –"

"Enough, I get it. I don't care whether it's helpless or not. I don't want a demon inside of me, Constantine. Now get it out." Batman said as he walked towards Constantine.

"Yeah, I don't know if you caught the part where I said it still needed a host. The thing about it is, regular exorcism rituals aren't working. Normally, something like this is would be a cakewalk but something very dark is brewing right now. I need to find out what's going on and what hole this demon crawled out from. I'll pull the demon out later, cross my heart."

Batman grabbed Constantine's collar and pinned him against the wall. But much to his surprise, Constantine gave a cheeky smile and disappeared. It was merely an illusion. Not one to sit idly by, he made his way out of the run down apartment they were in. It was time to visit an old friend.


End file.
